Welcome Bookfunnel readers to my newsletter!

Welcome Bookfunnel readers to my newsletter!

WELCOME TO THE HEART BEAT BOOKS NEWSLETTER  

 
Greetings Gullivar Jones fans! You recently downloaded my latest read from BookFunnel, GULLIVAR JONES AND THE TREASURE OF THE TSAR. 

I hope you enjoy it, and encourage you to send me your thoughts about it, good, bad -- or ugly. Only a very few ARC readers have read the story, and I'd love to hear what you think. 

Though not every week, I try to send this newsletter on Sunday, a good day to catch up on reading and rest. 

I was drawn to Gullivar for two reasons: 1) fantasy, action, and sci-fi fans have wanted another Gullivar Jones novel. He's a public domain hero in demand.

I read Edwin Lester Arnold’s pioneering 1905 pulp novel, Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, and though the writing was clunky, I really
liked Gullivar (whose name is a take off on Lemuel Gulliver from Jonathan Swift's classic).  

Gullivar Jones is a nice guy. Oh, he can be tough and swashbuckling when situations demand. But at heart, he's a gentleman, and a perfect foil/partner for Abby Bradshaw and Archie Smart, the two British agents he teams up with in Treasure of the Tsar.

The second reason, and this is the fun one: the name Jones.

I wondered ... what if?

What if Gullivar Jones happened to be the long lost uncle of a certain other legendary explorer?

And what if a couple of high school students working on a family tree project made this discovery through an online DNA test? 

And what if Gullivar Jones found Noah's Ark while that other Jones family member found -- well, you know.  Every great action story needs parody and satire, for comic relief and recognition of those who came before. 

In this new adventure set around 1935, now-retired US Naval Captain Gullivar Jones -- in his early fifties -- races to find the Fountain of Youth.

The only link to the Fountain’s location is a 1914 expedition shrouded in such secrecy, Jones and his British spy partners must travel the globe seeking obscure clues.

The expedition’s leader, Tsar Nicholas II, needed the water to cure his hemophiliac son Alexei, while assuring the malevolent mystic Rasputin never learned of its powerful secrets.

The villains -- and there are plenty -- include real-life Nazi doctors, a fictional Soviet double agent and her hulking, one-eyed henchman, and a Jones family friend turned sinister Dr. Moreau type, blinded by visions of immortality. 

The story begins in the present day, after that online DNA test ..


  

Gullivar Jones and the Treasure of the Tsar

 

My Goodreads Giveaway for THE TROUBLE ended last week with a hundred winners out of 1200 entries.

But today and Monday, THE TROUBLE is FREE to members of my mailing list.

Irish homicide detective Adam Kincaid pursues a serial killer exacting revenge for crimes connected to high-ranking Catholic Church officials during the Irish civil war known as The Troubles.

Get The Trouble thru tomorrow at:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BCXD8MVR



MY THANKS TO the 1,400 readers who've entered my Goodreads giveaway for TEN print copies of The Fires of Lilliput, Warsaw resident Shosha Mordechai's story of surviving the Holocaust beside Polish farmer Jakub Chelzak, whose unusual life has the Vatican considering him for Catholic Sainthood. 

If you haven't entered the giveaway, please do. It ends Nov. 29, so there's plenty of time.

"The Fires of Lilliput is a story of faith and friendship found within one of the darkest times that has befallen man," says Goodreader Mary Ann. "Put this on your must read list I guarantee you will not regret the decision."

FIRES OF LILLIPUT GOODREADS GIVEAWAY

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/355512-the-fires-of-lilliput-a-holocaust-story-of-suffering-courage-and-love


Thank you so much for reading!

Until next time,

Michael Martin

2,530 subscribers

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